Electric lighting is required for the majority of our everyday activities and finding a convenient and easy way of controlling the lighting was always an issue. Many recreational and industrial activities involve installation of the lighting controls in the immediate vicinity of open bodies of water or in environments subject to moisture, such as swimming pools, fountains, spas, greenhouses, carwashes, backyards, etc.
A swimming pool lighting control system is discussed as an exemplary application of the present invention. The wiring infrastructure of a swimming pool and particularly its lighting system is typically constructed using a well-established method. An electrical circuit breaker box is situated in a nearby building or equipment shed at some distance from the swimming pool, where the equipment is not easily accessible to the pool users. The circuit breaker box feeds electrical switches by which the pool lighting system can be controlled. From the circuit breaker box electrical wires are routed to the swimming pool area in electrical conduits. The conduits are typically made of metal or PVC plastic. Near the swimming pool, there is located an electrical junction box where an electrician may connect the incoming wires to the lamps' own wiring. These junction boxes are present so that lighting systems may be periodically replaced without rerouting all the wiring, or because of local electrical code requirements. Standard junction boxes are not designed for use near water, so special water-tight electrical junction boxes have become established for this purpose, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,752 to Reyhan et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,363 to Weise et al.
Water-tight electrical junction boxes are typically designed to allow an electrician easy access during construction and then to keep the wiring junctions dry internally and to provide a safe environment near the electrical power for the users. These junction boxes have been made in a variety of forms, materials, and sizes but they have not provided an end-user of the system with direct on-site lighting control means.
There are many commercial systems in existence for operating swimming pool lighting from the vicinity of the pool area. For a number of reasons, such as safety regulations and convenience of having all the operating controls of the pool equipment at one location, these systems are often of the remote-controlled variety, wherein the user carries a handheld remote-control device and the remote-control receiver connected with a lighting control module of the circuit breaker box is located in the equipment shed. However, in such a situation where the lighting control module is removed from the user's location at the pool area, if the remote control fails or there is signal interference, the pool user must travel away from the pool to the equipment shed to identify the problem and perform manual switching operations.
If manual switches for lighting control are desired in the vicinity of the poor, they must be of a waterproof nature, e.g. a weatherproof switch described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,999,072 to Slavik. However, such switches are typically bulky, having the size comparable to the size of a junction box, and are more expensive than standard user switches. Besides, an installation of such a weatherproof manual switch in the vicinity of the pool would require additional labor and expenses such as providing additional wiring infrastructure connecting the switch with a junction box, and building a foundation for the switch.
Accordingly, there is a need for an easily installable, safe arrangement facilitating manual control of lighting from the immediate vicinity of the users location without loss of the advantages of a remote control of lighting existing in prior art systems.